Rabies virus detection and phylogenetic analysis in samples from wild and domestic animals of Lithuania in 2007–2010

During the oral vaccination against rabies (ORV) in 2007–2010, phylogenetic analysis of rabies virus (RV) isolated from domestic and wild animals, was performed in the nucleoprotein (N) gene region. In total, 66 RV-positive brain samples were analysed: 52 samples from wild and 14 from domestic animals. The investigation was carried out at the National Food and Veterinary Risk Assessment Institute. For confirmation, RV identification in the analysed brain samples (n = 66) was performed by three methods: fluorescent antibody test (FAT), rabies tissue culture infection test (RTCIT) and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The results obtained by the three methods employed were similar: RV was identified in 66 samples of brain. The region of RT-PCR gene was amplified from (n = 66) positive brain samples and the obtained sequences of 362 bp nucleotides were compared with the selected other sequences of rabies virus from the GenBank. The phylogenetic analysis of N gene from wild and domestic animals showed a close genetic relationship between the different RV isolates irrespective of species or regional origin. The obtained results indicate that all RV strains in Lithuania belong to the first RV genotype of the North-East European group. Keywords: rabies virus, phylogenetic, wild, domestic